Teachers to work for additional hour per week [IrishTimes]
- Published: 30 March 2010
EDUCATION: TEACHERS AND lecturers will have to work an additional hour per week under the terms of the new public service deal.
The sectoral agreement also commits teaching unions and higher education staff to a review of employment contracts. The review could herald major changes, especially in second-level schools and among lecturing staff in third-level colleges.
All three teacher unions – the INTO, the ASTI and the TUI – will put the deal to a ballot of members. But union leaders are bracing themselves for strong criticism of the new deal at next week’s teacher conferences.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Cabinet to consider €500m DIT plan [Independent.ie]
- Published: 30 March 2010
PLANS for a €500m college development -- the biggest educational project for decades -- will go before the Cabinet shortly, the Irish Independent has learned.
Former Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe recently finalised a memo seeking Government approval for transferring the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) to the north inner city Grangegorman site.
Education sources described the development as a 'flagship' project and said they expected the new Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan, to continue with it.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Info campaign on legal highs needed [finegael.org]
- Published: 30 March 2010
Minister for Education must introduce Legal Highs awareness campaign in schools – Byrne
The new Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan TD, must show leadership and immediately introduce a campaign in every secondary school to inform young people about the serious health implications of legal highs, and advise them to make the right decision and not experiment with these potentially harmful substances, according to Fine Gael’s Spokesperson on the National Drugs Strategy, Catherine Byrne TD.
“With the growth in popularity of ‘head shops’, which are legally selling products such as mephedrone, ‘spice’ and ‘snow’, the Minister for Education has a duty to highlight, through education, the fact that the vast majority of these substances are not safe for consumption, especially if they are mixed with other drugs and alcohol. The shocking stories about young people experiencing mental health problems, including psychosis, delusions and paranoia, and a number of recent deaths linked to the consumption of legal highs across the UK show just how serious the problem is and it will only get worse if the Government fails to act.
Full Story: www.finegael.org
Almost 1,700 students wait six months for grant [IrishExaminer]
- Published: 30 March 2010
ALMOST 1,700 students are still waiting for payment of their grants for more than six months, the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) has claimed.
As third-level undergraduates approach their end-of-year exams in just over a month, it is believed up to half the number who have not received grants are awaiting funding from awarding bodies in Cork.
Full Story: www.irishexaminer.com
Tensions arise over multi-faith religion classes [Independent.ie]
- Published: 30 March 2010
Tensions have arisen over how religion is taught in the new state-run community primary schools in west Dublin.
The schools are models for a new type of educational provision to cater for the changing face of Ireland, and three more are due to open in September.
They have attracted pupils from a broad cultural and religious mix, reflecting the make-up of the rapidly developing communities in which they are based.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
